Saturday, March 31, 2018

March
31, 1893 – The Japanese flag is raised at noon on the Wooded Island in Jackson
Park, and dedication ceremonies begin at the Hooden or sacred palace that will
be the Japanese exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition. Nearly every fair official is present, along
with a number of businessmen and leading members of the Japanese community in
the city. The 300 or so guests in
attendance are allowed to inspect the temple for a short time before the
ceremonies begin. The architect of the
three buildings that make up the exhibit, M. Kuru, explains the plan to begin
the festivities, saying “… the three buildings here reproduced represent the
styles of architecture which were in vogue from the tenth century to the
eighteenth. Although each of these three
epochs has an architectural style distinctive of its own and reproduced here
with absolute accuracy they are planned under a general architectural
design. The whole plan is taken from the
Hoodo, which is now existing in Uji, Japan.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, April 1,1893] The first portion of the
ceremony ends with a note of gratitude to the 24 Japanese laborers who
constructed the exhibit. They respond
“in a peculiar manner and clapping their hands.” Then George R. Davis, the Secretary General
of the Fair, rises to speak, constructing his own edifice of over-the-top
prose. “In all time past,” he says, “in
all time to come, no celebration of the accomplishments of man, has or will, in
my opinion, equal the untold splendor of the Columbian Exposition … to no
people of the earth does the Columbian Exposition offer grander or more
distinguished advantages and opportunities than to our antipodean friends. Japan stands in the foreground as a wonderful
example of the swift progress of modern development and education. Japan, in the full consciousness of its
wealth and power, realizing to the fullest extent the advantages to be secured,
has been prompt and generous in support of the Exposition. I am glad that I may in this public manner
give expression to our satisfaction with the result you have accomplished and
the zeal which you and your colaborers have shown in your work through the last
winter.” Potter Palmer and Daniel
Burnham also deliver addresses after which the President of the South Park
Commissioners, Joseph Donnersberger, discloses that at the conclusion of the
fair only two buildings are to remain in Jackson Park – the Japanese pavilion
and the Life-Saving Station. “One was
for art,” he says, “the other for utility.”
After the ceremony wraps up the assembled dignitaries retire to the
Manufactures Building, where a luncheon is served. In its appraisal of the exhibit the Chicago Daily Tribune reports, “In the
government exhibit will be shown many rare and valuable relics and
curiosities. Many of these belong to the
Emperor … The work of the interior decoration was placed in the hands of the
Tokyo Art Academy … the material used in the construction is unpainted wood and
the spectator is filled with admiration for the many ingenious and effective
ways in which these people employ their raw material, their methods of getting
the best effects from the natural colors of wood, and the exquisite polish they
manage to put upon it.” The Wooded Island and the Japanese exhibit can be seen in the lower right corner of the above photo. Off the photo to the left is the building that would become today's Museum of Science and Industry.

March 31, 2003 – Under cover of darkness trucks carrying construction equipment move onto Meigs Field and shortly after midnight bulldozers begin to dig six huge “X” marks into the airstrip, stranding 16 privately owned aircraft on the tarmac of an airport that will never function again. Mike Daffenberg, an air traffic controller at the airport, says he found out he was out of a job on his way to the airport from DeKalb for his 6:00 a.m. shift. “I felt I was laid off by the radio this morning,” he said. [Chicago Tribune, April 1, 2003] Mayor Richard M. Daley is unapologetic, and the Tribune observes, “Still stewing because federal authorities were quicker to restrict airspace over Mickey and Minnie at Disney World and Disneyland than they were for Chicago, Daley said his unilateral closure of Meigs was prompted in part by fears that the nation’s homeland security bureaucracy was moving too slowly to address the city’s needs.” A spokesman for the Aircraft Pilots and Owners Association, Warren Morningstar, says, “We have our version of shock and awe right tin downtown Chicago. What we really are upset about is that the mayor has no honor, and his word has no value.”

March 31, 1890 -- The Chicago Daily Tribune reports that "The Accountant," a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, will remain in Chicago on display at the Art Institute. The treasure comes by way of Chicago oil man P. C. Hanford, who purchased the painting, valued at the time at $60,000. "I did not want to see it go away from Chicago," said Hanford. "I was waiting for some of our rich people to buy it -- one of the men who could spend the money and not feel it. I am not rich, but I love art. I waited till the last moment. We are going to have a World's Fair here and anything that we can get hold of in the way of art we ought to keep here." [Chicago Daily Tribune, March 31, 1890] You won't find the painting at the Art Institute today. Mr. Hanford sold the work on January 31, 1902 for £4,600 or a little over $22,000.